


Yortsayt Likht

by elumish



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Jewish Character, Jewish Comics Day, Post-Battle of New York (Marvel)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-01
Updated: 2016-06-01
Packaged: 2018-07-11 15:36:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7058560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elumish/pseuds/elumish
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony barks out a laugh. “Howard was a lot of things, but Jewish was not one of them. It’s the mother’s line that matters, not the father’s. Look,” he starts, then sees the candle again, peeking around the side of Rogers, and right, right, Agent would want him to be nice. “Look, I’m sorry about your friend. I know it hasn’t been that long to you.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Yortsayt Likht

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Ner Neshama](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6992398) by [elumish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/elumish/pseuds/elumish). 



> This is I guess a sequel to Ner Neshama, which goes more into my characterization of Tony as ethnically Jewish (though not really practicing, for reasons explained in Ner Neshama). A lot of this is reflective of my own sort of complicated relationship with Judaism.
> 
> The title is the Yiddish term for the yahrzeit candle, which is more a reference to Bucky than Tony, because I figure Bucky's family would have spoken Yiddish.

“Captain Rogers is asking to see you, sir.”

Tony looks up from the schematics he’s been fiddling with—he’s having a heat transfer problem, and he has no idea why this part isn’t cooling the system enough—and blinks at the brightness of the room. What day is it?

“Why is my music off, J?”

There’s a pause during which he imagines JARVIS heaving a long-suffering sigh, followed by, “Captain Rogers is in the lobby asking to see you, sir. What should I tell him?”

Tony’s immediate thought is, tell him I’m not here, but then he spots the candle, and right, damn it, Agent would have wanted him to make nice with the Captain. “Send him up here. And turn off all holograms and schematics except what I’m working on right now.”

“Yes, sir.” Most of the holograms in the room go dark, and he goes back to his work.

And promptly forgets the interruption, which is why it’s such a surprise when the door behind him slides open and JARVIS announces, “Captain Rogers is here, sir.”

Tony fights a flinch, because his back is to the door and he’s had a little too much experience with attacks on his life to be totally comfortable with people at his back without warning, and then he turns and smiles brightly at Rogers, who’s standing awkwardly in his doorway in a full military dress uniform. With a lot of ribbons pinned to his chest.

Tony had always wondered at that, at Rogers being a captain, because that was just the name that the military had given him, Captain America, and then apparently some idiot decided that that made Steve Rogers a captain too.

“Capsicle. What are you doing here?”

Rogers shrugs, stepping into the room; the door slides shut behind him, and he glances back at it. “I never get use to that. Automatic doors, I mean. I know there are so many unbelievable things now, but automatic doors and elevators that don’t need operators always surprise me.”

Yes, yes, the future is a scary place, old man shouts at clouds. “What can I do for you, Cap?”

Rogers looks at him again. “Right. I heard you were in New York, and I was surprised you didn’t take part in the parade.”

Something flashes through his chest, and he grabs a nearby pencil to keep from doing something stupid, like flipping Rogers off. “Yeah, well, I’m a busy man, and I have no time for celebrations of managing to keep the bare minimum of people of dying from something we screwed up in the first place.”

Rogers looks surprised, and then he says, “That’s not what I heard about you.”

Tony’s temper flares, and he twists the pencil in his hand so he doesn’t throw it at Roger’s stupid perfect head. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Nothing. I just—” Rogers looks around the room, and then his eyes fix on Agent’s candle, and oh fuck. Before Tony can distract him, he takes a few ridiculously long strides over to the candle; DUM-E whirs over to him, presumably to make sure he doesn’t set himself on fire. “Who is this for?”

Tony forces himself not to walk over and physically herd Rogers away from the candle, because it’s personal, it’s private, and he doesn’t want Rogers anywhere near it. He should at least be able to mourn Agent in peace. “Maybe I just like candles.”

“An open flame in a room full of technology? I doubt it. And anyway, Bucky’s family used to set these for Buck’s grandparents, and for his little sister when she died. It’s called, uh—sorry, I can’t remember the name.”

“A yahrzeit candle.” The pencil creaks in Tony’s hand, and he puts it down, then immediately picks it up again, because having empty hands right now is a bad idea. “Your friend was Jewish?”

“He was.” Rogers finally turns away from the candle to look at him, and that’s almost worse, because he can see the sympathy in his eyes, and the sorrow. “He didn’t talk about it much, and it was hard for him, but he was. I always felt like I was punching that ridiculous fake Hitler for him, you know. For America, but for him, because he talked about what Hitler was doing over there, before we went over there, talked about how Hitler was rounding up all of these Jews and America wasn’t doing anything about it because we didn’t care if they weren’t Christian. His dad was part of the JLC in ’34 and ’35, too, and his mom worked in the garment district.”

Go figure. “It’s for Agent. For Coulson.”

Rogers looks surprised. “I forgot you knew him.”

“Yeah, well, I did.”

Rogers glances back at the candle again. “I didn’t know Howard was Jewish.”

Tony barks out a laugh. “Howard was a lot of things, but Jewish was not one of them. It’s the mother’s line that matters, not the father’s. Look,” he starts, then sees the candle again, peeking around the side of Rogers, and right, right, Agent would want him to be nice. “Look, I’m sorry about your friend. I know it hasn’t been that long to you.”

“Thank you.” Rogers looks like he wants to say something else, then stops and glances at the old fashioned analog watch on his wrist. “I’m sorry, I have to go meet with the mayor. He wants to thank us again, and I guess I was the only one who was available.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t think superspies get meetings with the mayor.”

Rogers half-smiles. “Probably not. You can probably come with me, you know.”

“And be around reporters without Pepper to keep me from saying something inappropriate? She would kill me.”

“Well, then, I’ll see you later.” And then he walks out of the lab, the door sliding open and then closed for him.

Tony stares at the spot where he left for a long moment, then sets the pencil down and walks over to the yahrzeit candle, still burning brightly. It has ten hours left, at least, maybe twelve. “Aren’t you proud of me, Agent? I made nice for you, and you got to hear about Bucky Barnes, your second-favorite person in the world. You’re welcome.”

The candle doesn’t respond, the flame still in the carefully controlled air of the room, and then Tony laughs and walks away.


End file.
